Consecrated virgins or daring girls: Reading assignment about women in the Middle Ages

The position of women in the Middle Ages can be described as 'between veneration and contempt'. Women were either daring maidens, daughters of Eve, and thus the objects of oppression and contempt, or consecrated virgins, daughters of Mary, and thus the objects of respect and veneration.

This article outlines the image of women in the Middle Ages, as it is known from medieval texts, from the visual arts of that period and from the results of contemporary scientific research. Some misconceptions and stereotypes about the Middle Ages are also disproved.